diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/Project.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/Project.java
index e72f4ec00..7e55affdf 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/Project.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/Project.java
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ package org.apache.tools.ant;
 
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.EOFException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.lang.reflect.Modifier;
 import java.util.Enumeration;
@@ -239,6 +240,16 @@ public class Project {
     public void setDefaultInputStream(InputStream defaultInputStream) {
         this.defaultInputStream = defaultInputStream;
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Get this project's input stream
+     *
+     * @return the InputStream instance in use by this Porject instance to 
+     * read input
+     */
+    public InputStream getDefaultInputStream() {
+        return defaultInputStream;
+    }
     
     /**
      * Retrieves the current input handler.
@@ -1309,7 +1320,7 @@ public class Project {
         if (defaultInputStream != null) {
             return defaultInputStream.read(buffer, offset, length);
         } else {
-            return System.in.read(buffer, offset, length);
+            throw new EOFException("No input provided for project");
         }
     }
     
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Ant.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Ant.java
index c402d4aa6..a847b05ff 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Ant.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Ant.java
@@ -150,6 +150,7 @@ public class Ant extends Task {
      */
     public void init() {
         newProject = new Project();
+        newProject.setDefaultInputStream(getProject().getDefaultInputStream());
         newProject.setJavaVersionProperty();
         newProject.addTaskDefinition("property",
                                      (Class) getProject().getTaskDefinitions()